Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Let’s talk about money. Looking back over the hundreds of Blogs I’ve written there seems to be an almighty preponderance of three subjects: religion, sex, and money. Well, maybe that basically is what life is all about. Mumbai, wot used to be Bombay, is the richest city in India and half its population live on the streets. In many countries the poor, if not starving, are expected to live on a dollar or less a day. Meanwhile in California a rare early Coca-Cola bottle sells for $200000 at auction, a collection of comic books for $3.5million and in New York Russian Dmitry Rybolovlev, said to be the world’s 93rd richest man (Oh, boy! way down the list, what must number one be worth?)) buys a penthouse overlooking Central Park for $88million. He already owns a house in Florida at the same sort of price.

Everyone wants to look good on their wedding day and fulfilling the dreams and fantasies of the wealthier brides to be of New York is very big business. They head for Kleinfeld, the great wedding dress superstore. Inside the vast emporium - all plush carpets and chandeliers, sofas and mirrors - the consultants greet the women and show them to dressing rooms with their names on the door (you must make an appointment in advance). Weddings are, of course, a multi-billion-dollar business in America and for most brides, the dress is the thing. Kleinfeld has 1,500 different dresses, silk and satin, lace, tulle and chiffon, beaded bodices and bustiers that lace up in the back. The average price for a dress is around $6,000 (£4,000), though there are dresses for less - and dresses for much, much more. At least one Nigerian princess was in recently and spent $32,000 (£20,000) and that is before you add the veil, the headpiece, the shoes, the jewels - also available at Kleinfeld. Phew! Is my reaction to all that.

In England Lloyds Bank has said it is cutting £2million from bonuses for executives but that is not surprising considering its losses for the year amount to £3.5billion. Oh, dear, not laughing all the way to the bank, or from it as the case might be. I still do not understand how this bonus culture can be justified when the men earning them seem to be pretty useless in their jobs, are being constantly taken to task and who got the world into its terrible mess in the first place let alone their very bank that employs them. Not that some of the banks aren’t still making the most enormous profits. Well what would you expect when Barclays for example charges £25 to transfer a small amount of money from one country to another. What twenty-five pounds worth of work is involved here? It’s an electronic transaction. And the receiving bank of course, takes its cut as well. Yes, the banks have to make money but at such exorbitant rates?

And finally to politicians and the never-ending gravy train – We won’t mention that good ole socialist Tony Blair and his annual earnings of £12 million on the lecture circuit and other posts but pass on to dour ole Gordon Brown. It is estimated that since his departure from Number 10 Gordon Brown has earned more than £1.4m in fees and expenses since he stood down as prime minister. This includes more than £180,000 for his role as Distinguished Global Leader in Residence at New York University. Oh, do me a favour please! Distinguished Global Leader? The man who as Chancellor of the Exchequer sold the UK’s gold reserves at rock bottom prices? The man who fucked up a whole lot of people’s pensions? Global leader? Mr Brown's most lucrative speech, in Nigeria, earned him £74,936 plus £20165 in travel expenses. What? Was an aircraft carrier hired for the journey? Now is any speaker, Global Leader or not, worth that much?

According to a spokeswoman "not a single penny" of the money has gone to Mr. Brown personally. It has all been donated either directly to charity or to help the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown fund charity work. He has spoken in Moscow, South Korea. Riyadh, Kenya, Singapore, India and Switzerland and a three day trip to China. He received an advance of £78,000 for ‘Beyond the Crash’ and £22,500 for a second book, all proceeds being pledged to charity.

Mr. Brown's sole personal earnings are his salary as an MP because he has also renounced the prime ministerial pension he was entitled to receive immediately he retired as PM.

How wonderful to be able to end on an uplifting and humanitarian note. Bully for you Gordon Brown.

Sunday, February 26, 2012

Some time ago our friend John Lewis, whose occasional comments you may have read on my Blog, sent me the following which I am happy to share with you:

LOZITHA – His Majesty the King has declared 2012 a year of prosperity and gifts.

The king said yesterday that people would be surprised at seeing Swaziland showered with lots of gifts this year.

He said 2011 had been a very tough year but the country managed to pull through because it placed its trust in God.

Preaching at Lozitha Palace at a church service to mark the beginning of the year, His Majesty said the financial position of the country would improve this year, thanks to the intervention of the Almighty.

He said God, who made Swaziland pull through under difficult times in 2011, would do the same this year.

He advised the country against panicking and losing focus, urging citizens to make God their hope for economic revival. He said there were times when it appeared that public officers would not be paid their salaries but God intervened.

The king believes that God is the shepherd of Swaziland. He said a shepherd looked after livestock.

Likewise, God looks after the country. Triggering wild cheers and whistles from congregants, the king led the worshippers in a song titled, "Ufanelwe ukubongwa, ufanelwe naludumo, alishintji izwi lakho (you are worthy of praise and glory, your word never changes)." This song caused some Christians to speak in strange tongues. They stood up to join the king in song.

After that, the king tapped into spirit and began to evangelise on how God’s favour had stopped government from bankruptcy. He also said Jesus was unlike certain people who abused power by accepting bribes when asked to help others, particularly when they were to offer jobs to desperate people.

His Majesty said women looking for jobs were the most victims of abuse by unscrupulous people who demanded ‘something’ from them before they got the jobs. He was not specific but it was clear to all listeners that the king was condemning the prevalent practice of demanding sex from women before employing them. He said Jesus accepted people without restrictions or conditions because "He is a righteous shepherd whose love is unconditional."

Speaking at the same occasion, Her Majesty the Indlovukazi appealed for true worship. Apostle Maxwell Masakhona from Venda, South Africa, said there was divine protection, peace and unity in the country. He said certain countries did not have the good things that Swaziland had, saying it was time that Swazis appreciated those good things. Reverend Richard Dlamini said a person could live for 40 days without food, three days without water, some seconds without oxygen but a human being could not live without hope.

He said there was life where there was hope. He urged the country to hope for the best. Dlamini said hope should be in Jesus who happened to be the hope of all those who believed in Him.

Bishop Stephen Masilela said God was capable of creating natural resources like oil and conceals them under the surface if Swaziland would truthfully follow in His ways. He said military power, the art of science, availability of natural resources did not make a country survive but only God sustained a nation.

Bishop Masilela said Israel, a small nation, conquered great nations because they made the creator their God.

He said blessed was a nation whose God was Jehovah. After his sermon which lasted for about 30 minutes, His Majesty received a standing ovation from believers who crammed the Lozitha Palace Banquet Hall.

Dignitaries present were Deputy Prime Minister Themba Masuku who represented Prime Minister Sibusiso Dlamini who is presently out of the country, cabinet ministers, MPs, advisors to His Majesty and Her Majesty the Indlovukazi.

Well now, despite ninety percent of the population being devoutly Orthodox it would appear that Greece is not in the financial mess as we see it today because of nepotism, graft, tax evasion, corruption, greed, bribery, and billions flowing out of the country to safe havens like Switzerland, but simply that God has decided, unlike lucky old Swaziland, to simply turn a blind eye to Greece’s problems. Would you say that’s how it is?

Friday, February 24, 2012

My god! -That is purely an exclamation of horror – who in their right senses would want to live in a Muslim country, which explains I suppose why the non-Muslim countries of the world are inundated with immigrants from them? Here is the latest to emerge from one of these benighted lands: In Saudi Arabia Blogger Hamza Kashgari is currently facing possible execution for expressing his personal religious views on twitter. It is extremely unlikely that Kashgari will receive a fair trialin Saudi Arabia where religious scholars have already proclaimed him guilty of blasphemy and stated he should be sentenced to death. So for a couple of tweets a man is likely to lose his life and you wonder why I am so anti-religion. It strikes me also that sites like twitter and Facebook are a honey trap for the unwary. You can say something and, unless it is recorded or starts a series of Chinese whispers,” Do you know what so-and-so said?” that is usually the end of the matter, but once it is written down or broadcast for all and sundry to pick up they can make of it what they will. Kashgari has apologised for his little tweets and how many times have we seen someone of note apologising for something they have said? Russell Crowe springs immediately to mind with his remarks on circumcision and I really see no reason why he should have apologised. He is entitled to his opinion. And as far as Kashgari is concerned he is entitled to his. It is what is known as free speech.

Some more tittle-tattle re ‘The beautiful Game,’ some of it sad. Some of it just silly, starting off with how far can one be allowed to go as far as free speech is concerned? Police arrested a man at a football match for allegedly distributing a “racist” pamphlet. There you go; he had written down his opinions and suffered the consequences when being “racist” is considered by many to be a hideous crime worthy of a Saudi Arabian death sentence. Hopefully the police were none too gentle with him for airing his bigoted views and, quite right too; we know where racism got Germany in the thirties when Hitler and his mob were allowed to air their views. But that was on a massive national scale, what do you make of this? A man was arrested after an alleged racist gesture was made at the FA Cup tie between Liverpool and Manchester United and has been released on bail. The 58-year-old man from North Wales was arrested after the match. Officers had reviewed TV footage of the Anfield match after images were posted on Twitter (Twitter again!) of a man making an alleged racist gesture. How does one make a racist gesture? What does a racist gesture consist of? Could it be the man was merely scratching his arse when he developed an itch? The mind simply boggles. For once I wish I had Twitter so that I could see this racist gesture for myself. Saturday's FA Cup match was the first time the two teams had met since a racist incident between Manchester United's French defender Patrice Evra and Liverpool striker Luis Suarez during their league encounter last year. The incident led to Uruguayan Suarez being banned for eight games by the FA who found him guilty of making racist slurs against Evra.

Before the match during which the Welshman made his racist gesture the stadium announcer warned supporters that racist and homophobic behaviour would not be tolerated. Obviously apart from being a racist he was also stone deaf or just devil may care.

Earlier, police said 17 people had been ejected from the football ground during the match. They said two had been arrested for "low-level incidents".What are low level incidents and how come they weren’t on Twitter? Merseyside Police said the majority of fans however had been well-behaved. And on that hopeful note we will leave ‘The Beautiful Game.’

Well not quite, John Terry accused of an incidence of racism with Anton Ferdinand has been stripped of the England captaincy and barred from playing eight matches. He is due to strand trial in July over allegations of racial abuse. Black players within the England squad have also been putting pressure on the Professional Footballers' Association to take a stronger stance on Terry. This is believed to have also played a part in forcing the FA to act. Meanwhile the England manager, who still evidently can’t speak a word of English, is finishing up and scuttling back to Italy. It’s a weird old world.

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Putting aside horse and dog racing, too often known for dodgy goings-on, when did sport cease to be sport and become both thoroughly crooked and virtually a war of attrition? I am thinking particularly of football but no sport seems to be free of it. Cricket recently had its scandal with Pakistanis cricketers being bribed to misbehave on the pitch and the Pakistanis no doubt aren’t the only ones. China’s once top referee has been sentenced to five and a half years for taking bribes to fix matches. He is one of nine accused. So money in the shape of big time gambling is a primary reason but secondary there is the question of fans, truly living up to their sobriquet of fanatics. If you go to enjoy a football match you don’t expect to be going to your death. True, accidents can happen, more than one grandstand has been known to collapse resulting in casualties and there have been instances of mob behaviour rushing gates but what I am referring to is this: recently there was a pitch invasion in Port Said, when Cairo's visiting al-Ahly side were attacked after losing to the local al-Masry side. Seventy-four people died and more than 1,000 were injured. Most of the dead were believed to be al-Ahly supporters. Hardcore fans - known as "ultras" - have accused the authorities of allowing the killings to happen.

Greek football, according to The Athens News, is at the moment in a state of utter disgrace – “Greece Top of shame league in new report.”

After a comprehensive survey of 3,200 players the results quite frankly are astonishing: match fixing, crowd violence and delayed payments to players are rife. As far as the delayed payments is concerned this seems to be pretty ubiquitous in Greece. I wouldn’t be an actor here for the world, not if I was trying to earn a living or didn’t want to be on the bread line between jobs because I hadn’t received my fee for the latest television. And, as with actors, some footballers say they have not been paid for up to a year. Some clubs have not paid insurance contributions with the result that players have gone on strike.

The survey took in twelve Eastern countries, known as the hotbed of football corruption. Greece is second only to Montenegro in the percentage of players not paid on time but, apart from this, thirty percent say they have been approached in regards to match fixing. Forty seven percent said they were aware of match fixing in their division. Six percent of players in Greece have been on the receiving end of blackmail, with sixty two percent naming their club’s administration as the culprit while another eleven percent said it was their coach. Greece is Europe’s worst country in terms of violence against players (that is until Cairo maybe) as thirty one percent said they had been victims of violence, bullying, harassment, racism and discrimination. In Turkey currently there have been numerous arrests and nineteen teams are under investigation for match fixing.

England used to be the land of spectator violence, is it still? I haven’t heard any reports on it but Greek fans are only too quick to resort to violence both on and off the pitch. I know I complained about their mindless graffiti vandalising all the road signs with their gate number, but their behaviour at matches is pretty awesome. Is it a tribal thing do you think? So much for ‘the beautiful game!’

Efforts are being made to clean up the sport but in the meantime, anyone want to play the pools?

Monday, February 20, 2012

If ever I had hoped that Belle Otero would be produced in London it’s a case of abandon hope all ye who enter here as it is never likely to happen. Friend Ray Peters in London who is in the habit of sending us newspapers articles he feels would be of interest has come up with this one. I don’t know what journal it’s from but the writer is one, Nick Curtis. By the way, Ray keeps telling us he won’t be sending any more as the postage is becoming far too expensive and I believe him. Recently we sent some small playscripts to the states and the postage on each was over five euro! Back to the subject in hand – Big headlines – COMING SOON TO AS STAGE NEAR YOU followed by “With Hollywood’s movie business in crisis, film producers are transforming their greatest hits into musicals in the hope of making it big in the West End.” And there, revivals apart of which there seem to be many, you have it in a nutshell. In a way I don’t suppose this is an entirely new phenomenon. Chris for example was in the Drury Lane production of ‘Gone With The Wind’ way back in 1972-3. The modern trend according to Mister Curtis could possibly be laid at the door of Elton John for his reaction to the film ‘Billy Elliot’ which, transferred to the stage has made mega-bucks and started the new ball rolling. Lloyd Webber’s and Steven Sondheim musicals don’t need the backing of being offshoots of successful movies but they are in a category all their own. Still we have ‘Aladdin,’ ‘The Producers,’ ‘Sunset Boulevard,’ ‘Little Ship of Horrors, ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ ‘Ghosts the Musical,’ ‘Spiderman,’ ‘The Lion King,’ ‘All About Eve,’ ‘Dirty Dancing,’ ‘Hairspray,’ Shrek’‘Spamalot,’ ‘Priscilla Queen of the Desert,’ ‘42nd Street,’ ‘Betty Blue Eyes,’ and more. Now to add to the list, in preparation are ‘Finding Neverland,’ ‘Top Hat,’ ‘Bridget Jones,’ ‘Singing in the Rain,’ though that isn’t exactly new. Tommy Steele was doing it some time ago. Reading Mister Curtis’ article it is quite obvious why Hollywood moguls are eyeing the London theatre scene with much anticipation. Of course it takes a great deal of money to put on a musical – ‘Spiderman’ reputedly cost £48 million. Perceived wisdom is that four out of five shows fail but when one is a success – well, the figures speak for themselves. ‘Phantom of the Opera’ remains the biggest hit with worldwide sales of £3.5billion! The film of ‘Billy Elliot’ made £64 million on cinema sales and half again on DVD and TV but the musical to date has made £390million.

Many years ago we were offered shares in ‘Cats’ at fifty quid a pop. At the time we didn’t have fifty pence let alone fifty quid but looking back in hindsight we should, if possible, have borrowed the money. In all these years what dividends would that fifty quid have produced? But I was never good with money anyway.

Saturday, February 18, 2012

And away we go from religion to sex, the bane of so many people’s lives and with more horror stories than Hammer Films could dream up in a thousand years. Dealing with just one subject that seems to be summed up by the American fundamentalist bearing the banner “God hates gays.” Yes, folks it’s that old bugbear homosexuality yet again. If not good news, at least some encouraging news in various quarters where people seem to have come to their senses and accept what must be accepted. Washington is the latest American state to accept gay marriage though it still isn’t a certainty as opponents are threatening to wreck the bill before it can become law. Hilary Clinton said before a meeting of diplomats in Geneva, “Gay rights are human rights. It should never be a crime to be gay.” Shakespeare might have written “let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediment” but I still wish that emotive word “marriage” had never been used for gay relationships. Australia too it seems is coming around to acceptance although evidently government is dragging its feet somewhat. Certain areas of the UK have greater concentrations of gay people and lesbians living there. But why?

The big cities like London, Paris, San Francisco, Sydney, and New York are deemed to be more tolerant places, but how, for instance, has a small, peaceful market town like Hebden Bridge in West Yorkshire become known as "the lesbian capital of the UK"? Hebden Bridge is a typical market town in many ways and was our home base for ten years. It has long been claimed that it has more lesbian people per head than anywhere else in the UK. I must go around with blinkers.

Sally Hines, director of the centre for interdisciplinary gender studies at the University of Leeds, says cities are not necessarily 'safe havens' - even ones with vibrant 'gay villages' - and rural areas are not intrinsically homophobic. Hebden Bridge's tolerance seems to go hand-in-hand with being considerably more bohemian than a typical market town. "It's nice to just be, without feeling you're in a minority or an exception," says Amy Mellis, 29, a lesbian entrepreneur working part-time in a bar while getting a textile business off the ground. "If you go anywhere else, you feel self-conscious holding hands with your partner but not here." People want to blend in somewhere, and even feel anonymous. "For many years, being gay meant running away from family to a place where you could be anonymous. You ran for anonymity. Brighton has for many years had a reputation as a place to run to because it is an open-minded place where you can be who you want to be," says gay writer and Brighton resident Simon Fanshawe. Manchester has a reputation as a gay-friendly city thanks to areas like Canal Street. Cities like London and Manchester and the seaside towns like Brighton, Blackpool and Bournemouth have earned reputations as gay-friendly places. But the reasons can be as much economic as anything else but whatever, it’s nice to know there are places where people are accepted for who they are not what they are.

Now the downside. Apart from Muslim and African countries that would be happy to see the death penalty for people being what they are, and some Ugandans want the 14 year sentence increased to life though they have at least no longer insisted on the death penalty, those in power in St. Petersburg, like Maggie with her clause 18, have decided that homosexuality should in no way be acknowledged, written about, or even discussed. In other words millions of people should not only be anonymous, they might as well no longer exist. Only then will the homophobes be able to relax- that is until they find something else to worry about.

Thursday, February 16, 2012

Continuing the saga of the American military and atheism. A test implemented last year as part of a wider resiliency and suicide-prevention programme, rates service members on the strength of their spiritual life. Sergeant Griffiths counts about 100 members in Fort Bragg’s atheist community but it is not recognized by the military as a distinctive faith group though it recognizes the three main religions plus Buddhism and Wiccan, a pagan religion. "It took me a year and a half to get my records changed to atheist,” he says. “When I told them I was atheist, they put 'no religious preference.' "I told them that's unacceptable. I do have a preference, and that's atheism. “These records are important,” he says, “because of the end-of-life services provided to soldiers who may have been wounded in war. I want them to know that I am an atheist: do not pray; do not do last rites; do not do any goofy ceremonies for me." Steven Hewett, a veteran of the war in Afghanistan, who describes himself agnostic, became the target of public scorn after he requested that a Christian flag be removed from a military monument in King, North Carolina. "I've been vilified as this individual that hates Christianity and hates Christians, and that's certainly not the case," says Mr. Hewett, who says that he's had to take out a restraining order against one of his neighbours, and that some religious leaders have encouraged him to leave town. After the city council voted to remove the flag, thousands of residents protested. "This community stands together to support the Christian flag. It stands for God, peace, love, purity and the blood of Jesus," one woman was quoted as saying in the Winston-Salem Journal. Because atheists so often fight to keep religion out of public property or government activities they are perceived as being anti-Christian. An article in Fox News resulted in an influx of hate mail and death threats.

"The army really is a microcosm of the entirety of our nation," says Benjamin Abel, a spokesman for Fort Bragg. "We serve the people, and we have an incredibly diverse population of people in the United States. Through history the military has generally been out in front of a lot of social issues. We integrated the military first, we just had the recent change of 'don't ask don't tell', [and] women have been integrated in the military for a long time. We're not out there as a force for social change, but we certainly don't shy from it," he says.

While Sergeant Griffith does not believe in God, he does believe in the military and plans to make his career in the service. A few months ago he re-enlisted for another five-year tour of duty,

Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Religion and sex – what is it about either subject that it drives some people absolutely bonkers? For every positive story one hears there is a negative. I reckon I’ve gone on enough about religion and superstition time and time again and make no apologies for it, so here are a couple more stories I think are of interest.

On one of the islands in the Philippines orthodox religion and witchcraft go hand in hand but the witches are now called traditional healers. The most famous of them is 86 years old Consing Achay. Consing is not quite what you would imagine a witch to be. She is devoutly Catholic and sees no contradiction between her religious faith and her traditional spells. In fact, she says she received her powers from the Christ child in a dream and she does a quick sign of the cross before starting each treatment. She does have a black cat and her consultations are held in a small room behind her son's karaoke bar. Francisco Aladad is even more of a contradiction than Consing, because he is essentially living the life of a modern Filipino. Francisco's most important possession is a large stick, which he claims can identify bad spirits. He believes these spirits are everywhere - on the side of the road, floating around in the air and even under the ground - just waiting to get into people to cause illness of body or mind. Francisco says they are the ghosts of the dead or fallen angels. When his services are called upon, he identifies what is wrong with the patient by seeing how the stick reacts to suggestions of different diseases. He prods the stick in the ground around his patient's house to try to identify the spirits causing the malaise, and tells them to go away. Through the power of the stick they do. Question – Where do they go to? To harass someone else?

Second story – Atheism and the American military. In a land of faith and flag, one serving man is challenging the US military to abandon its religious ties. He describes growing up in Texas as being in the “oversized, goofy buckle on the Bible belt” and he was a creationist Bible thumper to beat them all until at 13 he suffered a crisis of faith and he lost his religion, but he says he has found peace in atheism. As an active-duty sergeant in the US Army, he's leading the charge to get atheists more respect in the armed forces. In the process he is earning attention, both positive and negative, from around the world. His most ambitious project is Rock Beyond Belief, a day-long event on the military base Fort Bragg, North Carolina, complete with children's activities, rock concerts and a lecture by atheism's most visible proponent, author and scientist Richard Dawkins. Two years ago “Rock The fort” sponsored by the Billy Graham Evangelical Association, Rock the Fort was billed as an "evangelical event" with Christian bands, family activities, and an emphasis on spreading the gospel to the entire community. He says military culture is full of symbolism and religious ideology and cites the traditional flag-folding ceremony which cites faith in God in multiple instances.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

It has been brought to my attention as my old headmaster used to say that yesterday’s Blog was a repeat. Stupid me. I don’t know how that happened but this is the one that should have gone out so have it a day late and a day early.

Rain rain go away, come again another day. Isn’t that the old children’s rhyme? I’ve never known so much rain for such a length of time. Mind you at least we’re not flooded like parts of Australia at the moment and although it has been the coldest we’ve known it in Crete, we haven’t had the snow and freezing conditions suffered by the rest of Europe. It has become a bloody nuisance though because it has made a part of the house (the walk-in pantry) so damp it keeps on tripping the mains switch. There is a fridge and a freezer in there so Chris has unplugged both and run a cable from the other end of the house, a long way over.

Rain or no rain there have been more demonstrations complete with riot police standing by against the Troika and its demands for further wage and pension reductions and the unions have called a forty-eight hour strike. Two days ago we were in our doctor’s surgery to renew prescriptions and for me to have my monthly blood test just to see if the rat poison is doing its job and she excused herself to answer the telephone. When she put down the receiver she looked at us and said quite simply. “That was IKA. No money.”

Afterwards I went to Maiky’s kafenio for a coffee and it was packed – mainly with smokers! I said from the very beginning that the Greeks, particularly the Cretans, would ignore the EU law regarding smoking in enclosed places. They seem to have accepted it in banks, utility offices etcetera, but no way are they not going to have their cigarettes with their coffees and tsigouthia (raki). No one in Maiky’s seemed unduly worried about the situation as they puffed away and the noise was at his usual level when Greeks get together. The night before having dinner in a local taverna there was a woman (English) chain smoking and no one thought of stopping her even though both she and Manolis, the owner, could have been heavily fined.

Still talking of bad weather I was reading an article about Napoleon’s Grande Armee and the retreat from Moscow (Why has no one ever made a film about this? Or have they?) Of all the challenges faced by generals through history, moving armies has been one of the greatest - and Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Russia 200 years ago illustrates just how badly things can go wrong when it is underestimated. The same thing applied to the Wehrmacht 129 years later. Both Napoleon and Hitler envisaged a quick victory but it was not to be and winter and vast distances did for them both. In Napoleon’s case evidently it has been put down to the horses wearing the wrong shoes resulting in only one out of every twenty men surviving. The Russians refused to stand and fight but employed a burnt earth strategy destroying crops and supplies as they withdrew, luring Napoleon ever further across forests, marshes and steppes. His troubles, however, were just beginning. Having entered Russia in June, and anticipating a short campaign, his horses were still shod with summer shoes and with the brutal Russian winter fast approaching, this tiny logistical oversight was to cost him dear. Winter horseshoes are equipped with little spikes that give a horse traction on snow and ice, and prevent it from slipping. Without them, a horse can neither tow a wagon uphill, nor use them as brakes on the way down. They would have slipped, fallen and the result would have been broken and mutilated limbs. The long retreat from Moscow has gone down in history as one of the greatest logistical disasters of all time. Without adequate horse transport, 2,400km (1,500 miles) from home, his army had no chance. He should have learnt a lesson from the ancient Greeks who in the snow shod their horses with leather boots just to prevent this from happening. And Hitler should have learnt his lesson from both.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

An Alabama senator who goes by the wonderful name of Shadrack McGill – sounds as though it comes from L’il Abner or Damon Runyon – has stated that school teachers should not get a rise in salary because the Bible says so!

A row has broken out in the Indian capital over whether Delhi University should teach a controversial essay about the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. The essay by the well-known scholar AK Ramanujan was dropped from the history syllabus earlier this week after protests from Hindu hardline groups. The article describes 300 different retellings of the epic story found in India and other Asian countries. Protesters say the versions recounted in the essay offend Hindu beliefs.

At least 30 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks in central Iraq targeting Shia pilgrims marking the festival of Ashura, officials say. In the deadliest attack, a car packed with explosives blew up as a procession of pilgrims passed through the al-Nil area, north of the city of Hilla. The violence came a day before the climax of Ashura, when Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, in a 7th Century battle outside Karbala. Ashura has witnessed serious sectarian violence since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with pilgrims often targeted by Sunni extremists.

A hundred and forty six people killed in a single bomb attack in Nigeria by an Islamic group calling themselves Boko Haram which I believe translates as ‘western education is a sin.’

I have been sent a photograph of a mass wedding in Ontario Canada, twenty four happy couples and yes, indeed, the grooms all look exceedingly happy but what about the brides? The brides? What brides? Where are he brides? Someone has captioned it ‘I hope they take the right tablecloth home,’ and indeed it would be a surprise to find you have picked up someone else’s wife.

What do the words sex, lavender, flatulence, quickie, butt, mango and pud have in common? They are among more than 1,000 words deemed so obscene by the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority that mobile phone companies have been instructed to delete them from all text messages. It is a decision that has left many in Pakistan unsure whether to be staggered, amused or outraged. Social media sites such as Twitter have been flooded with posts about the decision. Some Pakistanis have expressed their delight and gratitude, saying the list has taught them so many forbidden words and provided such a source of mirth. Some people are simply curious - they want to know what an "ass puppy" is or the vile significance of "Yellowman", reportedly the final word on the list. The only reference to Yellowman I can find on the internet is the pseudonym of a Jamaican reggae dj so why that is obscene is beyond me. But there is anger at the decision too. Censorship in Pakistan has a rich history, from public lashings of journalists and those who were anti-regime in the 1980s to people getting shot in public places for religious beliefs. For many, this is just the latest and most bizarre twist, in a culture where freedom of expression is hard fought. But many people have picked up on inconsistencies: the banned list includes every conceivable incorrectly spelled version of "masturbation". Bizarrely, if spelt correctly, the word is not banned. What many people want to know is who is the creative genius behind this list of words? What anonymous bureaucrat has toiled over this list of more than 500 Urdu and 1,000 English expletives and other words for the love of decency in telecommunications?

An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in prison after being convicted of blasphemy by judges in Saudi Arabia. Officials in Canberra said they had been in touch with the Saudi authorities to request leniency. The man had travelled to the country for a pilgrimage to Mecca. The charges have not been stated. His son said he doubted his father would survive fifty lashes let alone five hundred. Is there anyone who could survive five hundred lashes? It’s a death sentence. And so it goes on and on and on and on and on.

Thursday, February 9, 2012

Blog 431

An Alabama senator who goes by the wonderful name of Shadrack McGill – sounds as though it comes from L’il Abner or Damon Runyon – has stated that school teachers should not get a rise in salary because the Bible says so!

A row has broken out in the Indian capital over whether Delhi University should teach a controversial essay about the Hindu epic, the Ramayana. The essay by the well-known scholar AK Ramanujan was dropped from the history syllabus earlier this week after protests from Hindu hardline groups. The article describes 300 different retellings of the epic story found in India and other Asian countries. Protesters say the versions recounted in the essay offend Hindu beliefs.

At least 30 people were killed in a series of bomb attacks in central Iraq targeting Shia pilgrims marking the festival of Ashura, officials say. In the deadliest attack, a car packed with explosives blew up as a procession of pilgrims passed through the al-Nil area, north of the city of Hilla. The violence came a day before the climax of Ashura, when Shia Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of the Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Imam Hussein, in a 7th Century battle outside Karbala. Ashura has witnessed serious sectarian violence since the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, with pilgrims often targeted by Sunni extremists.

A hundred and forty six people killed in a single bomb attack in Nigeria by an Islamic group calling themselves Boko Haram which I believe translates as ‘western education is a sin.’

I have been sent a photograph of a mass wedding in Ontario Canada, twenty four happy couples and yes, indeed, the grooms all look exceedingly happy but what about the brides? The brides? What brides? Where are he brides? Someone has captioned it ‘I hope they take the right tablecloth home,’ and indeed it would be a surprise to find you have picked up someone else’s wife.

What do the words sex, lavender, flatulence, quickie, butt, mango and pud have in common? They are among more than 1,000 words deemed so obscene by the Pakistani Telecommunications Authority that mobile phone companies have been instructed to delete them from all text messages. It is a decision that has left many in Pakistan unsure whether to be staggered, amused or outraged. Social media sites such as Twitter have been flooded with posts about the decision. Some Pakistanis have expressed their delight and gratitude, saying the list has taught them so many forbidden words and provided such a source of mirth. Some people are simply curious - they want to know what an "ass puppy" is or the vile significance of "Yellowman", reportedly the final word on the list. The only reference to Yellowman I can find on the internet is the pseudonym of a Jamaican reggae dj so why that is obscene is beyond me. But there is anger at the decision too. Censorship in Pakistan has a rich history, from public lashings of journalists and those who were anti-regime in the 1980s to people getting shot in public places for religious beliefs. For many, this is just the latest and most bizarre twist, in a culture where freedom of expression is hard fought. But many people have picked up on inconsistencies: the banned list includes every conceivable incorrectly spelled version of "masturbation". Bizarrely, if spelt correctly, the word is not banned. What many people want to know is who is the creative genius behind this list of words? What anonymous bureaucrat has toiled over this list of more than 500 Urdu and 1,000 English expletives and other words for the love of decency in telecommunications?

An Australian man has been sentenced to 500 lashes and a year in prison after being convicted of blasphemy by judges in Saudi Arabia. Officials in Canberra said they had been in touch with the Saudi authorities to request leniency. The man had travelled to the country for a pilgrimage to Mecca. The charges have not been stated. His son said he doubted his father would survive fifty lashes let alone five hundred. Is there anyone who could survive five hundred lashes? It’s a death sentence. And so it goes on and on and on and on and on.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

The cruelty that mankind inflicts on animals knows no bounds. Care 2 Action has started a petition site to try and stop the production of foie gras and I only hope it is successful. I have long thought that this barbaric custom should be outlawed and have said as much in my writing. I wonder what bizarre mind first thought of it? The whole process is too revolting and the cause of too much pain and should be stopped. We have had battery hens and calves for their brief lives kept in the dark in a confined space so that they could hardly move in order to make veal. In the Ukraine about to host a football bonanza ten thousand street dogs are being slaughtered, some burnt alive. This is akin to the Chinese skinning live animals for their fur in order to make furry toys for the West. It really is beyond belief but unfortunately only too horribly true. The details are quite sick-making. Rhinos are hunted for their horns because idiots in the Far East believe powdered horn is a potent medicine, particularly evidently as far as sexual problems are concerned. The rhino is sedated, the horn cut off, and the animal left to bleed to death. Elephants are killed for their tusks. Seal pups are clubbed to death on ice floes and every hear hundreds of dolphins are herded into a bay in Denmark and there brutally hacked to death. This evidently to “prove your manhood.” Is there no way to stop it? The Danes seem impervious to worldwide condemnation. I don’t know if the custom continues but in Italy a small bird in a cage was blinded so that its plaintiff cries attracted other birds. On Crete people keep what are known as barrel dogs; that is in all weathers, in the fierce heat of summer or the cold of winter, the dog is chained by a very short chain to a metal barrel laid on its side which is its kennel. It is lucky if it receives bread and clean water. Evidently, or so I am told they are there to bark and so keep polecats or badgers away. A Cretan simply cannot understand how people can let dogs into their houses. Dogs are for hunting, dogs are for working, dogs are never pets. This all harks back I believe to the Turkish occupation of the island, the Turks considering dogs to be dirty. When a neighbour was told we had three dogs his response was, ‘What are they for? Are you going to eat them?’ Thankfully it is improving slightly as children are made more aware of the cruelty involved.

The story of Buddy – When we were first on the island our friend Menuous was showing us properties and we discovered a house not too far from here that would have made a truly beautiful home. Unfortunately the owner was xenophobic and was prepared to sell only to a Greek. (As far as I know the house is still unsold all these years later and falling to pieces). It was unlocked and on entering a dark room, no light whatsoever until we opened the door, Menuous said ‘mind the dog.’ Dog? What dog? In the far corner there was the remains of a large dog. I say remains because he was so emaciated there was simply no flesh on him at all and he could hardly get to his feet to stand. Menuous was thoroughly alarmed when I put out my hand to it, ‘No, Glyn! No!’ and I gradually gained its confidence. Up till then I would think its only contact with a human was either a beating or the boot. He was shivering violently. It was heartbreaking. I called him Buddy and for the next few days I walked around there with a bowl of dog biscuits and fresh water, making a fuss of him while I was there. Unfortunately the owner must have twigged or been told what I was doing and resented it because the last time I went around the door had been firmly locked and I never saw Buddy again. He couldn’t have lasted much longer and I would dearly like to know what the man’s thinking was in keeping him. In the UK of course there is the RSPA to look into the mistreatment of animals Here there is nothing like it and stray dogs and cats are lucky (like Merrill who was a stray) if they find a good home. There are ex-pats who take them in and try and rehome them but there are so many and you can’t rescue them all.

A Robin Redbreast in a cage puts all heaven in a rage – William Blake.

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Many years ago I thought of changing my name and sometimes now I wish I had done so. But for some reason, despite a great many people who do change their names and writers writing under pseudonyms, I thought I wouldn’t be the same person if I changed my name so I stuck to it and now I wonder just how many Glyn Joneses there are in the world and if it was a wise decision. What has brought this to mind yet again is a newspaper article sent from a friend in Australia all about a head gardener by the name of Glyn Jones. One in New South Wales has just been convicted of a money scam. I’m willing to bet a pound to a penny they are not the only Glyn Joneses in the nether regions. Wales of course is awash with Glyn Joneses and in England 25 professional Glyn Joneses use Linkedin which doesn’t take into account the rest. So even if I had thoughts of being top dog, this Glyn Jones, outstripping one and all, it really is a forlorn hope and I have had to include my middle name writing- there doesn’t, surprise surprise, seem to be another Glyn Idris Jones. Well there probably is but I haven’t found him. Looking down the list in Google however I came across Glyn Jones – Writer A King’s Story. It’s truly amazing what gets on the internet and although the site is fairly accurate (not complete mind you as far as acting credits are concerned) I appear to have written a couple of things I really know nothing about. I wonder if I should get them to add books and published plays. I’ll get on to it maybe.

Now here is something very interesting. An e-mail from a friend who lives in Spain and I copy it verbatim –

It was necessary to keep a good supply of cannon balls near the cannon on old war ships. But how to prevent them from rolling about the deck was the problem. The storage method devised was to stack them as a square based pyramid, with one ball on top, resting on four, resting on nine, which rested on sixteen.Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem -- how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding/rolling from under the others.The solution was a metal plate with 16 round indentations, called, for reasons unknown, a Monkey. But if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it.. The solution to the rusting problem was to make them of brass - hence, Brass Monkeys.Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled.Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannon balls would come right off the monkey.Thus, it was quite literally, cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey. And all this time, folks thought that was just a vulgar expression?You must send this fabulous bit of historical knowledge to at least a few intellectual friends.

Friday, February 3, 2012

Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain! Will it never stop? How long has it been going on now? We’ve lost count. Two weeks? Three weeks? Four? Is it going to last forty days? Is this the twenty first century Noah’s fludde? It has been incessant and must by now have caused some damage. With us the roof tiles on the old house have become saturated so we have our first leak in the saloni – not major I’m glad to say. Well not major yet but the rain continues. I should think practically every house on Crete – well this part of Crete anyway – is experiencing leaks. I never thought the leaden sky could hold so much water. I’m just glad we don’t live in any of the low lying areas like Kalyves or Souda which are prone to flooding. Much of Europe is under really heavy snow with temperatures in parts dropping to minus twenty or more and a 110 estimated deaths. Here it is cold but only down to just above zero. This, I think I might have already mentioned, is the first winter when the zompa has been lit first thing in the morning and kept going till bedtime. It’s just as well we ordered that extra ton of wood but even so the question is will it last to the end of winter? The condensation runs like a river down every window. It’s too depressing.

Equally as depressing of not more so: I thought I would try to get an agent to represent me in the states, the lovely Freda Fishbein having pegged it some years ago, so looked up literary agents on Google with particular reference to theatre. There are more literary agents in America than I have had hot dinners. There are a thousand or more playwrights, and more on the way no doubt, and a hundred thousand or more plays. How does one go about choosing an agent? It takes forever to research and then you read something like ‘response time three months.’ Great. You wait three months (or more) to be told thanks but no thanks. Anyway, the other day I pulled a name out of the hat as it were and sent the following –

‘I am an established and performed playwright seeking representation in the states and have primarily four works I believe will be of interest:-

THIRD DRAWER FROM THE TOP – Play, first presented at the University of Alabama.

GENERATIONS – Play, first presented at James Madison University, Virginia, then at Carnegie Melon, Pittsburgh Festival of new plays.

PETER PAN – New musical version first presented at The Playhouse Weston Supermare, Douglas Isle of Man, then school productions. Music by Andy Davidson.

LA BELLE OTERO – Musical based on the life of the famous (or notorious) courtesan of La belle Epoch. Music by award winning composer Chris Littlewood. Not produced. Book and demo disc available.

Wednesday, February 1, 2012

‘The Hollywood Writers’ Wars.’ We are dealing here with the thirties before the Second World War and, in particular the years of the great depression. It really is true that there is nothing new under the sun and reading of the depression, what was going on in America at the time and in particular what was going on in Hollywood in the early thirties, it could be equated with what is going on in Greece today. For ‘the producers’ read the Greek government and for ‘the writers’ read civil servants. Because of the depression people could no longer afford to visit the cinema so often and box office takings dropped alarmingly. So what did the powerful producers do?

It was necessary in order to protect themselves from the machinations of the producers, Warner, Schenck, Mayer, et al that the writers and actors formed their guilds –anathema, horror, to the producers: socialism and worse communism lurking just beneath the surface, employees making demands that would erode their profits even further.

The surprising force of the general strike of 1934 saw labour immediately linked with communism and the times were not favourable to the artist as a work force. The hangover of the Protestant work ethic still condemned the artist as a shiftless non-worker and the underlying belief during the depression was that artists should find themselves any kind of job rather than starve for lack of creative work. The same thing was to happen in the UK in the seventies. So what effect did this have on Hollywood?

The producers up to this point had used intimate, familial form of economic and psychological manipulation to retain absolute control but in March 1933, except for MGM which paid its employees in cash, the studios were unable to meet their payrolls. Universal suspended all contracts. Fox notified its employees that salaries would not be paid: (Greece today?) Paramount, Warner brothers, Columbia and RKO faced bleak prospects (just like the Greek government today). Naturally (as in Greece today) workers lost their jobs and for those who remained a blanket wage cut was imposed (again as in Greece today). Those receiving $50 or more weekly would get a fifty percent wage cut. Those earning less would get a 25 percent cut, the cuts to last for eight weeks. More out of fear that it was the beginning of the end the cuts were reluctantly accepted. Naturally it did not affect heads like Thalberg who was on $4000 a week. Nor I suppose does it affect the Greek politicians today who are paid fourteen times for twelve month’s work.

The wage cuts had made several things obvious to the studio employees, chiefly that producers didn’t think contracts were sacred – tell me about it who has first hand experience – and it was time to unionise. My union, The Writers; Guild and The Writers’ Guild in America were of no help in my dispute with a major Hollywood studio but more of that at a later date maybe.

But to show what chicanery the producers could get up to in order to protect themselves; in 1934 a writer by the name of Upton Sinclair announced he would be a candidate for the Democratic nomination for governor of California. ‘I saw hundreds of thousands of persons driven form their homes (Greece today) an economic process which has turned most of California over to money lenders and banks…(!) And for every official who was sent to jail (Greece) I knew that a thousand were hiding with their loot (Greece yet again).

So in the face of someone obviously on the side of the worker what did the studio bosses do? In order to destroy Sinclair they organised a smear campaign costing millions of dollars. They created fake newsreels in which vagrants on the way to California said they were drawn there because of Sinclair. Louis Mayor had his director of screen tests make the anti-Sinclair films. Joseph Mankiewicz was instructed to write anti-Sinclair radio spots, circulars were printed and hoardings supporting Sinclair’s rival, a man named Merriam, all paid for by the studios. But here comes the real humdinger. All studio employees, who were mostly for Sinclair, were expected to contribute one day’s salary to the Merriam campaign or their contracts would not be renewed. This was sheer blackmail and the New York Times at the instigation of the Guild reported that ‘motion picture producers attempted to collect funds for Merriam with deceit.’ The producers immediately denied it but it was yet once more thing that antagonised them towards the Guild. Needless to say Merriam won. It’s little wonder that the studios employ banks of lawyers.

About Me

Ex actor, ex director, still a writer, prose now no longer plays. Like the Godfather growing tomatoes. No, too old to garden but still writing - my autobiography No Official Umbrella - same title as my Blogs and soon to come out in paperback, novels and of course my favorite detective Thornton King